The Canadian
Broadcasting Corp. has cut three new sponsorship deals for
its coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Bell Canada, Petro Canada and monster.ca join Visa,
Home Depot, the Kellogg Co., General Motors Canada, Royal Bank
Financial Group and Labatt Breweries of Canada on CBC's 2002
Winter Games sponsorship roster.

Of the three new signees, Bell Canada and monster.ca were also sponsors
of CBC's coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, said Reggie
Yan, the network's senior Olympic and sports marketing manager.

The 2002 Winter Games are set for Feb. 8-24.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW: As part of its coverage
of the 2001 PGA Championship, CBS plans to broadcast an hour-long
special previewing the Grand Slam golf tournament.

"PGA Championship: Prelude to the Season's Final Major" will air Aug.
11 from 3 to 4 p.m. The tournament is set to take place Aug. 16-19 at
the Atlanta Athletic Club.

CBS' third-round coverage of the 2001 PGA Championship is scheduled
to run from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET Aug. 18. Its final-round telecast is
slated for 2 to 7 p.m. ET Aug. 19.

SLIDING INTO HOME:HBO Films' "61*," the movie
that depicts the pursuit of Babe Ruth's single-season home run
record by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, will be released
on home video and DVD Sept. 11. Directed by Billy Crystal, "61*"
made its premiere April 28 on HBO.

To publicize the release, HBO Home Video will launch a national advertising
campaign that includes print ads in Sports Illustrated, Entertainment
Weekly and USA Today, as well as radio promo spots on stations in the
top 12 markets. The release also will be promoted via mlb.com, espn.com
and cnnsi.com.

For the home video version, the suggested retail price is $14.95, and
for the DVD, it's $19.98. The DVD includes a behind-the-scenes documentary
about the making of "61*."

ARETE SPONSORS:State Farm, MasterCard International
and American National Bank, a unit of Bank One, have signed
on as sponsors of the 12th annual "Arete Awards for Courage in Sports,"
a production of Intersport Television that will air on ESPN
in early November. The event, taking place at Chicago's historic Navy
Pier, will be taped Oct. 19.

LORD STANLEY'S VIDEO:NHL Productions is teaming
up with USA Home Entertainment to release "Mission Accomplished:
The Official NHL 2001 Stanley Cup Championship Home Video," which will
be available in retail outlets starting July 10.

Produced by NHL Productions and distributed by USA Home Entertainment,
"Mission Accomplished" examines the Colorado Avalanche's championship
season. Suggested retail price is $19.95.

BELMONT NUMBERS:NBC scored a 4.9 household ratings
average for the race segment (5:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET) of its June 9 broadcast
of the Belmont Stakes, up 58 percent from the 3.1 overnight Nielsen
average for the race segment (5 to 6 p.m. ET) of ABC's coverage
of last year's Belmont.

ABC's 2000 telecast, however, started earlier in the day than NBC's
coverage — airing from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

At press time last week, the national rating for the full NBC broadcast
(5 to 6:30 p.m. ET) was not yet available.

Excluding the three years in which horses entered the Belmont with
a chance to complete the Triple Crown, NBC's 4.9 race-segment rating
is the highest for a Belmont Stakes since 1992.

FOR THE RECORD: ESPN is launching "The Season," a series
of documentary specials designed to provide behind-the-scenes looks
at athletes and teams.

The first installment of "The Season," produced by the ESPN Original
Entertainment unit, will showcase Tiger Woods at the 2001 U.S.
Open, which was scheduled to end Sunday. The documentary will air from
8 to 9 p.m. June 26.

Slated to run from 7 to 8 p.m. July 5 is a special called "The Philadelphia
76ers at the NBA Finals." For that show, produced in conjunction with
NBA Entertainment, ESPN was given access to practices, locker-room discussions
and strategy sessions.

Other shows under "The Season" banner that are scheduled in the coming
months include a behind-the-scenes look at the University of Arizona
football team's 2001 season; a documentary on several prominent Kentucky
high school basketball teams and their quests for the state title; and
a documentary showcasing Little Leaguers from the Bronx, N.Y.

The football special will run in January, and the basketball documentary
is set for April. A telecast date for the Little League special has
not yet been determined.

When Tom
Moloney was promoted to chief operating officer of England's
Emap plc, it paved the way for Steve Parr to become president
of Emap USA. But Parr won't last long at Emap USA. That's because
Emap plc is giving up on America and selling Emap USA, just two years
after it sank $1.5 billion for the American publications, most of which
came from Petersen Publishing.

"We paid more than we should have and the market is tougher than we
thought it would be, even without the economy slowing down," Moloney
said, adding that the company had an $820 million write-down earlier
this year. "We will have no real U.S. presence." (Emap plc will retain
its new non-sports title, guy mag FHM.)

"We think the business is stronger that way," he said. Parr is part
of the unit and will leave Emap USA to go to the new company, Moloney
said. "We're selling it lock, stock and barrel. And it should be done
in the not too distant future."

NEW LOOK IN PHILLY: The Philadelphia Daily News has
seen a circulation jump of 5,500 copies a day since May 14. The boost
was fueled partly by putting the red-hot 76ers on the cover for 22 straight
days (and counting, at press time), but also in part by a redesign of
the entire paper.

"Right now, it's very hard to measure what caused the jump," said graphics
editor John Sherlock.

The entire paper got new fonts for headlines and body copy to give
it a bold new look as it makes the transition, like many other newspapers,
to a smaller size to save money. But a redesign was overdue, since the
Daily News hadn't had one since 1992. "The newspaper looked like a ransom
note with each section looking different," Sherlock said. "Now it seems
like it all comes from one place."

Sherlock said the sports section has more boxes and other formats for
culling information from stories and it also has bumped up the display
promoting the paper's television talk show on Comcast SportsNet.
Sherlock said most papers get 1,000 to 3,000 complaints after a redesign
from longtime readers resistant to change but the Daily News had received
only about 150. "We've had a good reaction," he said.

IN THE WINNER'S CIRCLE: The Benjamin Franklin Award, given
by the Publishers Marketing Association to independent publishers, equals
extra sales and a dose of prestige. So said Michele Terry, production
and marketing manager for Eclipse Press, a division of equestrian
publisher The Blood-Horse. Eclipse Press was formed in December.

Eclipse will reap the benefits, having won the Benjamin Franklin Award
in mystery/suspense for "Great Horse Racing Mysteries" by John McEvoy.
The book had a printing of 5,000, and the award could spark a boost
in sales in excess of 500 copies. "Stores are more likely to order it
now," Terry said. "It is very difficult for equine publishers to get
into mainstream bookstores. These are high stakes."

Eclipse sells its titles primarily online and at horse-related specialty
shops and tracks, along with some bookstores.

The award will help for future books as well. "It gives us increased
cachet as a serious publisher in the industry," Terry said. "Stores
will look at our next titles more closely."

MORE FROM THE FORM: The Daily Racing Form has introduced
the third phase of its new Web site, drf.com, on which it has spent
millions. The site now features a personalized home page, a live tote
board and complete race charts. There is also extra material for paying
subscribers.

BRASSEY'S, BLUE RIBBON TEAM: Brassey's Inc., a publisher
of military books, ventured into the sports world in 1998 with The Baseball
Prospectus and followed with several other titles. Now it is expanding
its reach, joining with Blue Ribbon Media to publish the Blue
Ribbon College Football and College Basketball Yearbook.

Pacific
Trading Cards will have an exhibit on the concourse, and
CCM will receive public-address announcements and signage.
Note: Draft sponsorship is exclusive to league partners within
their respective categories.
Sources: NHL, ESPN

CBS Sports signed a multiyear extension, through 2006, of its broadcast
deal for the Sun Bowl. The network has broadcast the annual game in
El Paso, Texas, since 1968. The game matches teams from the Big Ten
and Pac-10 conferences and is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET Dec. 31.

Cal games on S.F.'s KRON

San Francisco NBC affiliate KRON-TV agreed to a five-year deal to carry
University of California games in sports that aren't part of Pacific-10
Conference network broadcast packages. Terms of the deal were not available.

WVPX gets coaches shows

Kent State University reached a deal with Akron, Ohio, Pax affiliate
WVPX-TV to broadcast the school's football and men's basketball coaches'
shows in 2001-02. The station reaches 1.5 million TV households. The
deal is Kent State's first contract with an over-the-air station after
two years of working with a public access channel of Time Warner Cable
in northeast Ohio.

NFL playoffs in prime time

The NFL is moving two playoff games to prime time, putting them before
a bigger TV audience. Saturday playoff matchups Jan. 5 and Jan. 12 will
start at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET, rather than 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
as in previous seasons. The NFL will start its end-of-season Saturday
afternoon games Dec. 15 and Dec. 22 an hour later, at 1:30 p.m. ET and
5 p.m.